Integrating community cohesion into Kineara’s future work

Over the last year, Kineara partnered with Southern Housing Group to deliver a community cohesion programme for residents of a development in Fulneck Place. Called New Beginnings, the innovative programme was designed to support residents who were new to the development with their move, foster good relationships with those already there, and enable all members of the community to feel part of the neighbourhood. Now, having learned a great deal from this project, Kineara is launching its own community cohesion intervention.

Our Spring event at Fulneck Place

Like other Kineara interventions, both New Beginnings and our new programme, Renewed Communities, use a key worker approach to provide intensive support and flexibility that is tailored to the varied needs of a diverse set of residents. Gail, our practitioner who worked on New Beginnings at Fulneck Place, has been leading on the design of our latest programme.

“New Beginnings worked well because we worked closely with many different stakeholders in the community to achieve our objectives of a smooth transition for the 55 new households moving into the new development and building strong community relationships,” Gail said. “This included the housing providers, local health services, existing community groups and family support services, and local schools. This is one important part of the work which will be central to our own community cohesion programmes”

Gail continues, “Support was given in different ways based on the individual needs of the family, for instance with some needing intensive one-to-one support and sign-posting to relevant support agencies, and others wanting advice on how to organise a community event. The unique structure of New Beginnings has meant that each resident can effectively benefit from a service tailored to their needs.”

When asked about the success of the project, Gail was most proud of the resident’s group and events that have been taking place. “The resident’s group was set up before the project began but played a really important and active role in improving the neighbourhood. And the events that we put on together really showed me how much the residents, old and new, are taking ownership of their neighbourhood and building a really strong sense of community for themselves. Now that I have left, I know that those people who needed the most support when the project began have the networks around them if they need them”.

Renewed Communities is Kineara’s newest intervention programme and offers support to residents to build a strong sense of community and well-being. You can find out more about it here

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